Stargazers in northern New York may soon get a clearer view of the heavens. The Adirondack Sky Center and Observatory marked Dark Sky Week last month by noting that the organization is working to have Tupper Lake, its location in the midst of the Adirondacks, designated an official Dark Sky Community. Sky Center President Seth McGowan spoke with WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley about what it takes to receive that certification from the International Dark Sky Association.
It takes essentially the minimizing of light pollution. There's an application process. There's a dark sky community, a dark sky region and a dark sky park designation. I think those are the three tiers. But basically there's, there's a couple of tenets required to meet the criteria of the International Dark Sky Association designation. There are plenty of places in the United States, but we would be one of the few in the Northeast certainly. And certainly the Adirondacks would be the first to do that. But it's an application process to them and it's fairly lengthy. Some say it's an 18-month to three-year process to do.
You're in the middle of the Adirondacks. I think some people would think it must be a slam dunk to get this designation. Sounds like it's a little more difficult.
Well, here's my plan. As the only astronomy-based organization in the Adirondacks, we care deeply about dark skies because light pollution is the enemy of astronomy, at least visual astronomy, astrophotography, those sorts of things. So we want to minimize as much as we can. And we want to start with Tupper Lake because that's where our observatory is. We have relationships with the local government here who are required to be part of this process, also in in terms of, you know, understandings of building code and lighting solutions that that meet specific requirements. And the idea is to start with us and build outward to communities around us, perhaps in my lifetime, perhaps not, where the entire Adirondack Park would get that designation. I mean, there's tremendous economic and tourist advantage to those things. You know the I think the nocturnal tourism has become a term. But we refer to it as astro-tourism, people that come specifically to see the night sky and observe either deep space objects or just enjoy the constellations right from their own backyard. So people are flocking to these areas now that have designations of dark sky. So there's a number of different fronts. There's a number of different players that have to be involved. But our goal is to start with Tupper Lake. We want to make sure as we move forward, that light pollution is minimized, what is built in the future and that we, to whatever extent we can, take care of anything that seems excessive now.
Seth McGowan, you mentioned the economic and tourism impacts that could occur if designated dark sky. I've also read that a dark sky designation is also good for the natural environment. Have you looked into that and how it might help or hinder the Adirondacks?
Absolutely. To go back to the eclipse, we saw at the moment of totality that all of the wildlife responded to that from insects to birds to coyotes. They all depend on light. Birds, in particular, for navigation purposes and so forth. We do. We've looked into it extensively. In fact, in our portable planetarium, the star lab in our office, we have a presentation from the International Dark Sky Association, a full dome planetarium show specifically about that, about its impact on nature and how wildlife responds to light pollution. It's fascinating and there was proof in the pudding when the eclipse hit and everybody responded to the darkness immediately. And that's what happens with light pollution. Of course, we're an astronomy center, so you know our original impetus to do this has to do with astronomy. But we want to take care of the beauty of the (Adirondack) Park. And wildlife is the Park and we now have, you know, a double obligation to take care of that too.
Have you interacted about this with any of the town or village officials to let them know, hey, this is what we're thinking and this is what we would have to do?
Yes, I've talked about some of it. You know, it's funny, because this process for us actually started pre-COVID. And then there was COVID. And it seemed like things came to a grinding halt in so many different areas. This was one that just sort of hit the back burner at that moment. And then, on the heels of COVID, we had the eclipse and the planning for the eclipse, which was essentially a two-year process of planning. This is one of the priorities of the board that we established, you know, several years ago and it just sort of has taken the back seat to other major projects that we've been working on. But over the years, yes, I've had specific conversations with members of the board. We've had leadership changes both in the town supervisor and in the mayor. In Tupper Lake, one of the Adirondack Sky Center board members is actually on the planning board of the town. So she plays an important part in communicating priorities of the Adirondack Sky Center. And I know that in building projects that Tupper Lake has approved through that planning committee, that there's been times where they brought me in to consult on the lighting that's planned in a project. They've had me come in and look at the architectural plans and the specifications for the lighting. And sometimes I say woah this is not going to work. But for the same price, swap out this fixture and it'll be the same thing except it'll be friendly to dark skies. So yeah, we do have contacts. We've had some conversation. But now that we're kind of ready to go, the gate is now open, we'll be having some very specific and lengthy conversations with the boards both the village and the town.
And you mentioned it's a two-to-three-year process as you submit the applications and such. When do you hope to actually get the designation?
That's a good question and that's why I sort of want to wait a little bit before I start bringing it outward from Tupper Lake into other communities because I don't really know what the timeline is realistically anymore. I know that in the pre-COVID days when I first started exploring this, I was told that it was, you know, a two-to-three year thing or 18 months to three years, a year and a half to three years. But more recently in conversations I've had with friends around the country who have done this, they've said that it's much more expedited than it used to be, and it could be a year, maybe two or less. Honestly, I really don't know. But I would hope that by this time in 2027 that we would be able to have a ribbon cutting on our dark sky designation, so to speak. That would be my goal.
Since 2001 more than 200 sites globally have been certified by the International Dark Sky Association.
Most Dark Sky designations in the U.S. are west of the Mississippi River. In the Northeast, the Appalachian Mountain Club’s North Maine Woods and Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania are official Dark Sky parks.
